In order to improve bandwidth efficiency, many broadband access networks provide a communications medium that may be shared among a plurality of nodes, or points, to form a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) network. In the area of optical networks, a passive optical network (PON) provides a P2MP network architecture with an optical line terminal (OLT) at a central office (CO), an optical distribution network (ODN), and a plurality of optical network units (ONUs) at customer premises. Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) is a PON standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is specified in IEEE 802.3ah, which is incorporated by reference. Gigabit-capable PON (G-PON) is a PON standard developed by the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Section (ITU-T) and is specified in the ITU-T G.984 series, which is incorporated by reference. In the area of wireless networks, Wi-Fi and Long Term Evolution (LTE), which are incorporated by reference, similarly provide P2MP network architectures.
In a media access control (MAC) layer of a P2MP network, an upstream bandwidth may be assigned based on polling. Polling may refer to arbitration of access to a network, particularly bandwidth assignment. Polling is an important mechanism that may directly affect network efficiency.